CopyCited 8 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal
...NOTES [1] In addition to the two points on appeal which we find to be dispositive and to require reversal, Lipman contends that the lower court erred in failing to grant his motion for judgment of acquittal; in not dismissing the indictment in toto; and that Section 831.18, Florida Statutes, is unconstitutional....
...We are unable, however, to make a conclusive determination of this point due to the fact that a substantial portion of the trial transcript is missing and we do not, therefore, reach the merits of this point. We find the remaining points raised by Lipman, which present challenges to section 831.18, to be devoid of any merit....
...ssue the same, or to cause or permit the same to be used in forging or making any such false and counterfeit certificates, bills or notes, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison not exceeding 10 years, or by fine not exceeding $1,000. § 831.18, Fla....
...(1981) (e.s.). Lipman first contends that the indictment returned against him should have been dismissed in its entirety because it improperly charged him, alternatively, with aiding and abetting Massoud in violating either the first or second portions of section 831.18. Section 831.18, however, must be read disjunctively so as to define the two ways in which the statute may be violated; accordingly Lipman was properly charged in the alternative. Finally, Lipman contends that section 831.18 is unconstitutional, both facially and as applied in this case, in that it attempts, without adequate notice, to make the mere possession of a duplicating machine illegal....
...It is our obligation to find allegedly unconstitutionally vague statutes constitutional if application of ordinary logic and common understanding would so permit." State v. J.H.B.,
415 So.2d 814, 815 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982) (citations omitted). We find section
831.18 to be sufficiently explicit in its prohibitions to meet that test and therefore reject Lipman's constitutional arguments.
